family

I come from a big family. i've got four brothers and a sister. usually on thanksgiving we all pack up and head to "grandpa's farm". it seems like there's more relatives every year. on a good year there will be about twenty-five of us. fortunatly there's a lot a room to move around, outside. inside it's bedlum. with that many people in the same house it gets pretty claustrophobic. i spend a lot of time outside during thanksgiving. then on thanksgiving day my uncle hauls over his grill for a pig roast. this is no ordinary grill, it's humongous. he puts one pig in it but i think you cook three at a time without much problem. the best part is the "pig pickins" thats when all the men stand around the grill picking of the parts that look juiciest. Sunday on the farm is interesting if you want a shower you have to get up early. we practice "the early bird gets the worm" rule. the church there is small so when the family walks in we double the congregation, literally. there's lots of different nationalities on the farm. you may not think they are different nationalities but trust me they are different. there's some from south carolina, pennsylvania, california, illionois and sometimes hawai'i. we rarely have family reuinions, who needs them when you have thanksgiving.

Christmas isn't quite so hectic. we usually stay home for christmas so at least i get to sleep in my own bed, most of the time. if it gets too crowded i get booted out and sleep on the floor. christmas morning is interesting. we wake up and want to open presents but are supposed to wait until after brunch. brunch is a real "log roller"(don't ask ). for brunch we have a swedish tea ring(it's basically a giant sticky bun in a circle on a big platter). after brunch we want to open presents but waitfor several hours then finally open presents.

One problem about a big family is it's hard to get everybody together at the same. time but over all having a big family is pretty fun.